1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dough-stretching roller apparatus which is used to produce a continuous web of dough, in a process to manufacture confectionery and bread. Especially, the apparatus includes a computer memory into which the desired production rate, width, and thickness of the web of dough are previously stored, so that a mass of dough supplied from a hopper can be stretched into a uniform and continous web of dough, and so that a web of dough of a constant volume can be fed to a following production line.
2. Prior Art
FIGS. 5 and 6 show two examples of a dough-stretching roller apparatus of the prior art. The apparatus in FIG. 5 includes a pair of cylindrical rollers 53 disposed opposite each other. When dough is fed into the gap between the rollers 53 from a dough hopper 52 that is located above the rollers 53, the mass of dough is stretched by the rollers 53 into a wed of dough. By the structure shown in FIG. 5, the mass of dough can be streched into a web of dough having a predetermined thickness. However, depending on the amount of dough remaining in the hopper 52, or depending on whether the dough is hard or soft, a change inevitably occurs in the volume of dough that passes through the gap between the rollers. If the volume of dough changes, the width of the stretched web 1a of dough cannot be maintained uniform.
The apparatus of FIG. 6 includes two pairs of facing pressure-applying rollers 63, 64 that are located in a vertically-shaped relation. The roller pair 64 rotates at a constant speed to feed the web of dough from the upper roller pair 63 to the following production line, so that a mass of dough is stretched twice. However, because the web of dough is not always delivered from the upper roller pair 63 in a constant volume per unit length, then, for the same reasons as those stated above regarding FIG. 5, if the volume per unit length of dough supplied to the lower roller pair 64 from the upper roller pair 63 is small, the web of dough tends to be severed as shown at point A and B in FIG. 6, while if the volume per unit length of dough supplied to the lower roller pair 64 from the upper roller pair 63 is excessively large, dough tends to accumulate as shown at point C in FIG. 6, thereby resulting in greater fluctuations in the width of the web of dough. Thus, it is impossible to attain the desired stable production.